The Balloon People
The Balloon People is the ninth episode of the first season of the Superfriends. The episode introduced a family of aliens called Balunians, who had a strange balloon-like physiology. This was the third episode of the show to deal with the subject of pollution, with the last two times that was addressed being in Dr. Pelagian's War and Too Hot to Handle. Once again an alien world is portrayed as being too polluted to live on. This planet is called Balunia, and within the context of the story the Balunians leave their homeworld, and one family of Balunians land in Marvin White's backyard. This episode is unique in that the antagonist of the story; Noah Tall, is the first antagonist in the series that could actually be considered a supervillain. Unlike most of the other antagonists, that consisted of mainly misguided scientists and good-hearted people just going too far to make the world what they envision as a "better place," Noah Tall was actually a greedy man, who lusted for power. This is really the first time we see a truly evil character in the show, but it didn't make the tone of the episode any darker, especially since his sidekick was a character played for laughs. His name was Twisty, and he had some type of extreme speech disorder just for comedy. Even Noah Tall's name is a play on the phrase "Know-it-all." These villains were clearly played for laughs. Much of the episode focuses on humor. This episode can probably be called the first completely comedic story. A good portion of the time the villains make unsuccessful attempts to kidnap the Balunians. Much of the plot of this episode would likely be considered ridiculous by most people, everything from the chill attitude that Americans seem to have regarding aliens living among them, (the writers decided to skip the whole xenophobia concept) to the Super Friends taking Wonder Dog to the pet shop to get a pedicure. It should also be noted that although the Balunians survived this story, realistically one might think that they would have a high mortality rate on a planet like Earth, where every sharp thing in existence could kill them. At one point Aquaman even has to tell them not to touch the coral reef in the ocean. It's quite a thought actually, thinking that these aliens could be killed just walking down the street and petting a feral cat that scratches them, causing them to pop. This story is indeed quite absurd, even for the Super Friends, which itself was already written in a fashion of absurdity. But on the other hand, it should also be noted that by the end of the episode, Krim, the father of the alien family, goes to work for the United States Government. One might think that this could be the government's way of keeping an eye on aliens from space that are potential threats to national security. (not that aliens with balloon bodies would be) The fact is though, Krim and his family is never seen again in the show so it's just as likely the government decided to take them to Area 51 and do terrible experiments on their corpses. But their fate isn't revealed beyond this episode so it's impossible to determine. __TOC__ Synopsis A family of alien "Balloon people," known as Balunians, travel to earth to find a more suitable home since their home planet of Balunia was now wasted because of pollution. But an evil genius known as Noah Tall wishes to learn there secret of "teleportation," a special telekinetic power that they possess. So Noah Tall, with the help of his bumbling assistant Twisty, devise a plan to capture them. Plot Summary Cast Locations *Gotham City **Hall of Justice ***Justice League Recreation Room **Marvin's house *Remote Island-laboratory complex *Washington, D.C. **U.S. Capitol *Noah Tall's fortress *North Pole Locations Mentioned *China *Planet Krypton *Planet Balunia *Red Sea Vehicles *Batmobile * Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet * Noah Tall's Snoop Wagon (van) * Noah Tall's Sea Sucker (helicopter) Items Coming Soon! Continuity Coming Soon! Continuity in Other Media Coming Soon! Episode Title Coming Soon! Notes References: Chess, The Invisible Man, teacup, animal, flying fish, Lilliputians, couch potato, woman, newsman, catch, railroad, train, balogna, mouth, acid, starfish, red fish, white dolphin, suction pump, The Teacher's Manual, Thomas H. Palmer, tongue, lap, shark, cargo net, Justice League Meeting Room, pear, banana, Justice League Laboratory, orange, Rapping, football, telescope, pencil, notepad, tea, jellyfish, FX-30, speech disorder, psychokinesis and intellectual disability. Quotes *"Holy teacups!" --- Robin *"Great blazes!" --- Batman *"Holy flying fish!" --- Robin *"Jeebies!" --- Plinky (said three times) *"Jeepers!" --- Wendy (said twice) *"Holy Lilliputians! --- Robin *"Zonkers!" --- Marvin (said twice) *"Imagine, Balloon planets from another people!" --- Twisty *"If at first you don't try...succeed again." --- Twisty *"I don't think it's smart to soup around with Messerman. --- Twisty *"Great Scott! --- Superman (said twice) *"Great Galaxy! --- Krim *"How do you like what I did with the bullshovel and the steamdozer?" --- Twisty *"Huh? You didn't capture the Baloney-ans?" *"He's the sing of the Keas!" --- Twisty *"Here's the atching icid. --- Twisty *"How are we gonna catch the Baluminiums? --- Twisty *"Great Neptune! --- Aquaman *"You'd better pump off the turn! --- Twisty *"By the beard of Poseidon, what's that thing?" --- Twisty *"The poor dog must be sick. I sure hope they can cure his pedi." --- Twisty *"What do we do about Ween Tonder?" --- Twisty *"Holy decoys!" --- Robin *"You know, that psychy-Connecticut tele-whatever." --- Twisty *"Okay Balloonies, you go first and follow me. And don't try any tricks, I'm not as dumb as I really am!" --Twisty *"Even a magician couldn't get outta there, unless he could perform magic." --- Twisty *"Holy dead ends!" --- Robin *"Uh-oh, that's the Catbopter!" --- Twisty *"Holy fire hoses!" --- Robin *"I think we've been spotted by the Stan of Meel!" --- Twisty *"I'm not scared, I'm just putrified!" --- Twisty *"That'll keep our hair out of Superman!" --- Twisty *"The Crape Cusaders!" --- Twisty *"It's Womer Wonden! --- Twisty *"They've got all the oxits blecked!" --- Twisty *"Here comes the Dunamic Dyo!" --- Twisty *"Holy jelly fish!" --- Robin *"He said he's a boud-cluster duster! Ask him!" --- Noah Tall External links Coming Soon! References Category:Episodes Category:1973 Releases